


Because We Can Fly

by WeDontTalkAboutThisAccount



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: I really don't know, I wrote it ages ago and only just found it, Post canon, teacher armin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 04:44:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7300108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeDontTalkAboutThisAccount/pseuds/WeDontTalkAboutThisAccount
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Titans have been eradicated, what are all the soldiers who survived now supposed to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Because We Can Fly

"Remember what I said, only relative and suitable questions." Armin's voice was soft, as it always was with the children. "Yes, Mr. Arlert!!" The young students replied cheerily. They had always wanted to meet the heroes that had once worked with him. "Ok then, they'll be waiting here after lunchtime, so go play outside." As the children ran outside to play, Armin beckoned Eren, Mikasa and Levi to join him in the classroom.

"So, those are the brats we have to talk to? For God’s sake." Levi's voice was full of resent, as the trio expected. 

"Um, capt- I mean Levi, please don't hate the children before you meet them, they're the best class I've had!" Armin had the feeling that the students would love Levi, but the feeling would be less than mutual. 

"Levi. You don't have to be here, y'know, this was optional."

"Listen, Jaeger. I came here because I thought the students would be older, the only reason I'm staying is because I'm here now and I live too far away."

"Okay, jeez calm down." Ever since the day in that courtroom, however many years ago now, Eren had been wary of Levi's strength and didn't want to push his luck, even if he was completely sure Levi wouldn't start a fight in a primary school. The four sat in the room catching up with each other over a glass of orange juice that one girl in the class had provided, before the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. 

"Ah, I have to go and get my class. Stay here, ok?" Armin rose from his chair and head towards the door that led outside. 

"Mikasa, are you ok? You haven't said anything since we got here. What's on your mind?" Whilst Eren was completely hopeless at recognising his own feelings, he was strangely in-tune with Mikasa's and Armin's. 

"Yeah, I'm ok, it's just, it's jus- actually never mind."

"No, tell us." Even Levi had caught onto Mikasa's discomfort and was slightly worried. 

"Why do the children think we're heroes? I mean, we're murderers, we've killed both humans and Titans. We've stained our hands with blood and given up our friends and comrades 'for humanity'." Mikasa's face was riddled with concern and a slight fear, now she had confessed what she really felt about their post-Titan lives. The three stayed in silence until Armin cleared his throat softly behind them. 

"Mikasa, they don't think you're heroes because of all of that. You're heroes because you can fly." Armin was the only one that could make Mikasa crack a smile when in a time of distress. 

"You heard that, huh? I thought you were outside."

"They're kids, they take a while to take off their coats." Armin’s soft chuckle brought the three to look down and smile a little to themselves. "Ready to meet the children then? I will warn you about Hannah, though; she likes hugs and calls everybody 'bro' or 'sis'. I have no idea where that habit comes from, although I do know she comes from a big family, so that’s what I’ve always thought the reason was".

Armin’s words of caution were of quite a lot of use because no sooner than the door opened had a red headed girl flung herself at Levi, shouting "Levi-bro!!" At first the prior captain tensed up but as soon as Hannah looked up and smiled, Levi whispered a name he thought was long forgotten. 

"Isabel..." 

"Umm, Levi, what was that? You whispered something." Eren had heard Levi whisper, but he was not the only one. Hannah cocked her head in confusion and repeated the name Isabel back to him. 

"Isabel? Who's she?"

Eren had never heard the name before but it obviously meant a lot to Levi. He swallowed, and looked at the trio with slightly glassy eyes, and managed a weak "no one important. Can we get this over with already?" 

The three friends shared a worried look, as the revelation of Levi's emotions was something they had never seen in their time of fighting with him. 

"Yeah, of course. Ok, class I'm going to need you to settle down now. Hannah, please take your seat. I'll take your questions one at a time. What do we say about questions?" Armin's soft voice was surprisingly powerful in the classroom. 

"Put your hand up, don't shout out." The class replied in a chorus, something they obviously repeated a lot.  
"Great! Who wants to ask the first question?" As soon as Armin had finished the sentence about 14 hands went up at once. "Ok, how about Mike? What do you want to ask?" 

"Is it true! Is it true you can fly?" It was clear this was the question that the entirety of the class wanted to know. The children's eyes were all filled with the burning curiosity that only a child could have.

"Well, only with the use of our three directional mobility gear. But to answer your question, yes?" Mikasa gave the students a warm smile after the answer. A smile that backed up the reason they thought the people standing before them were real heroes. They all answered questions, one after the other either by Eren, who gave an other enthusiastic answer almost every time one of the students addressed him, a warm smile from Mikasa or the nonchalant monotone that could only be provided by the former captain. At the end of the hour all the 10 year olds in the room were hyped up with the knowledge they had gained from the heroes of war. All but one. A small freckled child who looked down almost the entire time. Just as the three were leaving, Isaac couldn't hold it in any longer. It was now or never to find out the truth. 

"WHAT KIND OF SOLDIER WAS MY BROTHER?"

The surprise outburst from the usually ever so quiet kid even caused even the unshakeable Levi to jump a little. Armin knew exactly whom Isaac was talking about. Isaac Bodt was a child who at every opportunity would ask about his older brother, one of the many soldiers sacrificed in the battle of Trost. The trio shared a sad glance before looking Isaac in the eye and Eren saying quietly, on behalf of everyone who had known him, "A brave one. A brother you should be proud of. A brother you should boast about. Marco Bodt was a man you would be lucky to have on your team. Never forget him. Never." 

All three left the room before Eren had tears rolling down his cheek. "Eren. Don't work yourself up." Mikasa held Erens shoulder as a form of consolation but Eren shook her off. 

"I'm ok. Just that question shocked me a bit. It reminds me of when we were 9." Eren started to relive the memories he thought he had repressed. The memories of the knife. The blood. The animals in human clothing. The diseases. It didn't matter if he was talking about when Armin first talked about the outside world, he could only ever think about the incident that brought him and Mikasa together when he thought about his childhood. 

"How? Isaac wanted to know if his brother was a good soldier. We literally ended three lives." The confusion enveloped her as she tried to find a link between the two events. 

"The link? The look in his eyes. The burning curiosity before he finally heard an answer was so much like all ours when Armin first told us about the outside world, and after, when he knew the truth. When we first saw the fields of snow, the water that burned like fire and the almost endless ocean with all the fish, our eyes had the same look. But,” Eren dropped his voice in attempt to stop Levi from hearing, “What the most surprising thing about today was when Levi said something about 'Isabel'." 

The former captain jumped a little at the name before tossing his head lightly and saying, "I thought I told you to forget about that. She's no one. Just a kid." The lump in his throat was growing harder to talk against, and the tears were coming thick and fast. Fighting the memories of one of best friends was proving to be almost impossible, but showing weakness to the brats would be humiliating. "Anyway, do we have to come back? Like those brats asked us to?" Levi was quick to change the subject in order to stop himself tearing up. 

"Again, this was and still is optional. The kids really like you, you should come again!" Eren was also quick to realise corporal’s change of tone, and gave up on trying to find out who this mysterious Isabel was. 

"No, I'm old now. Almost 45. I can't use 3DMG anymore." Using every trick in the book to get out of coming back to the school, Levi continued to walk at his brisk pace down the road towards the carriage he hired. Eren got the feeling that the height jokes all the children had made had got to him. Even he had to admit, little children didn't have a filter so we're ruthless when it came to appearance. On the up side, at least no one had let slip the whole cleaning obsession. The kids would never forget that. The carriage pulled up to the three, before the driver held out a hand to help them in. The driver kept their head down, as if to protect their identity. It was a shifty movement, to which Mikasa and Eren were wary of, but Levi didn't seem to notice or care. 

"Hanji. Stop, I can smell you." Levi looked up at the driver, who responded with a broad grin. 

"Levi! You could always tell who your comrades are from a mile away!" Hanji was smiling ear to ear, looking at the three with a look that could only be described as Hanji.  
"Hanji? You're a carriage driver now? What happened?" Erens confusion was escalating the more he looked at the former commander in the driver’s uniform. He looked at Mikasa hoping for some sign that let him know he wasn't alone in the sudden revelation, but as always, Mikasa's facial expression was impossible to read. 

"Hanji, I cannot tell who my comrades are from a mile away, you just stink to high heaven. Take a shower, shit glasses." Levi was cold. He always was when talking about, or to, his old teammates and survey corps veterans. 

"As mean as always, Levi. But no, I don't need a shower. Also, Eren. It turns out retirement didn't suit me at such a young age so alas, I'm here. With another job." The eccentricity of the woman before them still surprised Eren, even after all the years they fought together. Hanji ushered the three soldiers into the carriage, doing her job finely. Once all three were in the carriage, Hanji cracked the reigns, causing the horses jump violently with a loud neigh. 

"So. Hanji's a carriage driver, Levi's retired happily, Eren's the new instructor, Armin is a successful teacher and I'm stuck babysitting Sasha and Connie's kid." Mikasa had that disappointed voice she usually saved for Eren when he screwed up. 

"I guess that's just how it goes. Don't complain. You were one of humanities strongest." Levi's voice has no sympathy, as expected. 

"Have you met Sasha's child. She's as much of a glutton as her mother. She wants feeding every 6 minutes. It's impossible for me to keep her happy." The disappointed voice had gone but now Mikasa was speaking with a mild hate. 

"I'm sure she's fine. I could try looking after her." The look Eren gave his foster sister was the look he always gave her when she got riled up like a cat with its fur stroked backwards. It was rather cute when Mikasa showed emotion, but if left "unattended", it could get terrifying.  
"Please. Look after her. Give me a day off. I don't even know what Sasha and Connie do for a living." 

"Sasha is a professional cook. I think Connie is her second in command, if you would. I'm not sure if he does much, but I know she stops her eating all those damn potatoes." Levi had knowledge of his former squad that his former squad didn't even have, and it actually scared Eren and Mikasa.  
"Okay, but… Can't they find someone else?" 

“Not to my knowledge. Almost everyone you used to fight with are happily retired or still working in the military in the Garrison Regiment. You’re stuck with her.”

“I think I’ll just live in the rubble of Shiganshina, rent free and eating rats.”

The carriage pulled up to where the three would be getting out and part ways, and as they said they’re goodbyes, they couldn’t help but notice the look in each other’s eyes. The look of happiness of knowing there would be generations that don’t have to live in fear of the Titans.


End file.
